Recording live band practices. Need better method/equipment?

[GuitarRiffs]

Thanks Koz!

Yes, it's a very large rehearsal room.
Mic was probably 30 feet from the band
So, this "cardboard box / tinfoil / underwater" sound is what any H2 will sound like in a large room?
So you're saying recording in a large room is not effective?
I guess I'll try moving the mike closer to the band, and maybe reducing the recording level from 100.

That said, by the way, I have used the H2 in tiny practice rooms as well, and it sounds just as bad.
To me, echo is not the problem, but the entire recording quality. Drums sound like a cardboard box.
(Nothing like a decent studio recording, I mean) I really don't think room size is the only problem.
I can't imagine this becoming a CD/radio caliber recording, just by putting it in a better room. You know?
Therefore, I still think the H2 is really suited for recording people speaking and maybe just some rough musical "scraps/ideas".
But, not listenable music for an ipod. (Basically, it's a $200 tape recorder, to me)

[steve]

Yes, it's a very large rehearsal room.
Mic was probably 30 feet from the band
So, this "cardboard box / tinfoil / underwater" sound is what any H2 will sound like in a large room?

Not just the H2, it will sound poor with any microphone.

Drums sound like a cardboard box.
(Nothing like a decent studio recording, I mean)

A "decent studio recording" of a drum kit would probably involve precise mic'ing up each drum individually, possibly with two mics on the snare (top and bottom) and a couple of overheads. The kick drum mic alone will probably cost close to the price of an H2. The recording will often be made in a "drum room" that has carefully treated acoustics. Each microphone signal may be individually Eq'd, compressed, gated panned and possibly other effects such as gated reverb. There is no way to get the same sound from a single microphone.

Here's a short sample recording made by sticking an H2 in front of a guitarist. It was recorded at 320 kbps (the recording level was a bit low so the noise level is higher than it should be). The recording was then trimmed amplified and a fade out applied but no other processing, then exported as an Ogg file (Q10).

STE-003.ogg

(772.36 KiB) Downloaded 230 times

[bgravato]

That was a nice recording Steve

I remember the other one when you moved the H2 further away from the guitar, it had a lot more noise... If I didn't know I would never say both recordings (the second one I'm talking about is not available here) were made with the same mic!
That's why I was saying that mic positioning can make a real difference (and I had this precise example in mind).

[GuitarRiffs]

I'm going to put the H2 right in the middle of us all, and make sure it;s not clipping by adjusting the recording levels.
I bet that will make a huge difference to getting more "direct" in your face levels.

[steve]

The most important thing when setting the record level on the H2 is the H/M/L switch. This switch changes the microphone gain. If you're recording a live drum kit this will need to be at the "L" setting.

The Up/Down on-screen level control (the buttons << and >>) just scale the digital input (much like using the "Amplify" effect in Audacity. I generally leave this set at 100, which is "no digital scaling", so the meter will show 0 dB at the clipping level.

[GuitarRiffs]

Yes, I keep it a low gain. Anything else clips.
I am going to put it closer, and this might improve the hollow sound.
CLOSER, but with lower recording level might give a different sound.
I'll keep you posted.

[GuitarRiffs]

Hey, I am reviving this old thread. I have a new recording from my H2.
I know passing this MP3 through an EQ app to fatten up the sound does wonders.

Can someone show me what options I can use in Audiacity?
I am not really sure how to use the EQ effect.

If this is not easy to learn, is anyone out there up for trying to EQ my mp3 as a favor?
I will email it to you, and see what you can do with it?
If so, just PM me your email, and I'll post the link.

[Trebor]

Can someone refer me to an app that I can edit the mp3's EQ on?

There are audio editors specifically for mp3, but their features are very limited ... http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 28#p195228

However your mp3 can be processed in Audacity.

[steve]

The Audacity Equalization effect is described here: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/equalization.html